Sales-check book.



PATENTED JAN. 2, 1906.

A. L. MOLEISH..

SALES CHECK BOOK.

APPLIUATION FILED APR. 1v, 1905.

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No. 808,865. PATENTED JAN. 2, 1906. A. L. MOLEISH.

SALES CHECK BOOK.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. 17. 1905.

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10.808,865. PATBNTBD JAN. 2, 1906.

A. L. MOLBISH. SALES CHECK BOOK.

APPLICATION FILED APB. 17. 1905.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 2, 1906.

Application filed April 17. 1905. Serial ll'on 256,067.

. which shall provide in a convenient and compact form in a single check-book means for y keeping such records of sales as are necessary and usual under modern business conditions, especially in large retail stores, while at the same time avoiding any unnecessary waste of material and also removing one cause of injury to delicate fabrics.

Under modern business conditions it is usually required in large retail stores that the sales person shall make a record of each sale made in such a manner as to provide the purchaser with a check, keep a duplicate for the records of the store, keep a record as to Whether or not the article sold has been delivered to the purchaser, and make a record in legible form of the name and address of the purchaser where the articles are to be delivered to the purchaser, which record shall be in such form that the delivery department 0f the store may ascertain with a minimum of.

labor as to whether or not the customer purchasing charge items has, in fact, any acy count and is in good standing with the store.

It is therefore my object to provide a single sales-book which shall be adapted to meet these conditions, especially in business involving a very large number of individual sales.

These and such other obj ects as may hereinafter appear are attained by my invention, a convenient embodiment of which is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which* Figure 1 is a view of my improved salescheck book open, so as to show the blanks for the sales-record and summary. Fig. 2 is a like view open to show the different-colored address-slips. Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. Fig. 4 is a sectional view on the line 4 4 of Fig. l looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 6 6 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail of Fig. 3, and Fig. 8 is a perspective view with sections A and B raised and the leaves of the pads broken away.

Like letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the drawings.

My improved sales e check book consists, preferably, of avolume comprising four supports, sections, or leaves hinged together, preferably by a flexible leather connection, as shown in Fig. 5. These leaves are indicated, respectively, as A and B, foldably secured or hinged together by a flexible connection b, also the leaf or section C, the sections or covers B and C being connected by the flexible connection c much as the backs of a book are connected, and the section D, which is secured to the section C by the flexible connection d. It will be readily seen fromrFig. 5 that these four leaves may be folded together, so as to form a single compact book.

Section A is provided on its upper face with a pocket a, adapted to receive a short stiff tab e, secured to the back of a pad E of sales-check blanks in triplicate, and said leaf or section A is provided across its upper edge with a vertically-extending stiff fiange a, against which the bound edge of the pad E abuts, so that the pad E is removably mounted upon the section or leaf A and yet is normally held in place by the flange a. The leaf or section A, it will be noticed, folds over upon the leaf or section B, which section B is provided across its upper edge with a verticalflange t', which extends above but parallel with the iange a. Consequently as the record of sales is made upon the pad E the original and duplicate sales-checks, properly filled out, are torn 0H, inclosed in the package with the goods, and filed, respectively, while a carbon copy thereof remains a part of the pad and is folded over and out of the way, as indicated at F in Figs. 3 and 7, and is held in such folded position between the leaves A and B, while the {iange b proi tects the folded-over edge against wear and fraying, this being of particular importance,

because these manifold copies are usually made of thin tissue-paper or the like. In the maklng of these sales-records a sheet of carbon-paper G is secured to the back of the lpad E. The pad E is composed of numbered sheets of tissue-paper arranged between duplicate numbered blank sales-checks printed in different-colored inks. In making record of a sale the carbon-paper G, which is provided with a carbon surface on both sides, is folded over one edge of the pad E and over the lower blank check e2 of each of these sets e3. The correspondingly-numbered tissue-sheet is then laid over the carbon, and the duplicate and correspondinglynumbered blank sales-check e4 is laid on top of the tissue-sheet. The sales person then makes a record of the sale upon this upper blank sales-check, while the carbon-paper makes a duplicate thereof upon the tissuesheet and upon the underlying but differently colored sales check. The original sales-check is then placed in the package, While the duplicate thereof is stamped and filed by the inspector as his voucher that the package and sale have been inspected by him, and the tissue-sheet is folded over the top of the pad E and under, as indicated in Figs. 3 and 7, While the carbon is readjusted with the next set of blanks and tissue, as above described.

In view of the necessity of rehandling the carbon-sheet with the recording of each sale and in view of the factthat the carbon-sheet is necessarily carbonized on both sides the sales persons fingers must quickly become smudged by the carbon, and when at the same time the sales person is handling delicate goods-such as laces, silks, and the like-it is very difficult to avoid soiling the goods. To obviate this, I provide the carbon-sheet with a plain uncarbonized margin, (shown at g in Fig. 1.) Preferably this is a reinforced margin, so that the carbon may not only be rehandled without soiling the fingers, but the margin may not be torn by repeated handling, obviously meeting the first requirement in this regard by merely leaving a margin of the paper uncarbonized.

In order to provide the customer with a` voucher where sales are made andthe goods are ordered sent, I provide one of the saleschecks with a detachable coupon e, which in such cases is handed to the customer when the sales-checks are torn from the pad E and are forwarded to the wrapper with the goods. IfIeretofore these sales-checks have always been provided withl blank coupons for the name and address of the customer; but in view of the fact that many hundreds of thousands of packages are delivered direct to the purchaser these coupons have involved a needless expense, because in such cases they could never be utilized. On the other hand, where they were used they were necessarily so small as to interfere with rapid work by the sorting and delivery department of the store. Furthermore, when purchases are ordered to be delivered and to be charged to the customers account it becomes necessary for a proper inspector to ascertain whether or not the purchaser ordering such items charged is in good standing with the credit department, and to that end the vast number of sales made each day and ordered delivered must be assorted into the charge items and those which have been paid for or are to be paid for on delivery and these charge items must be checked on the books of the vender. With my improved salescheck book and pads the blank sales-checks have no address-coupon attached to them. Consequently there is no loss on this account.

To meet the requirements for a large address-blank and for a ready sorting of the charge items from the other items, I provide one side of section D with a pocket h and with a vertical flange d, so that an addresspad II, having a tab h, which is slipped into said pocket h', may be mounted thereon, while the inner face of the section or leaf C is provided with a similar pocket i and with a flange c', so that another address-pad I, provided with a tab fi, may in like manner be mounted upon the section or leaf C. These pads are made of duplicate address-blanks h2 h3 and i2 and i3, respectively, the members of each pair of blanks being similarly numbered, but being printed in different-colored inks, while carbon-sheets G G2 are mounted therebetween, so as to make a duplicate record of every address written on the outer blank of each pair. The blanks in pad Hare of a different color from the blanks in pad I, one color address blank being used for charge sales and the other color address- -blank being always used for all other sales.

Consequently whenever a purchase is ordered delivered-if, for example, it be a charge item-the address is written, say, on one of the blanks of pad II, which, for example, may be composed of yellow blanks. The original address-blank thus written is attached to the package and furnishes a large legible address for the delivery-man, and being of different color from the cash sales such package is quickly sorted out from the cashsale packages and is sent to the credit department for the purpose of ascertaining whether the addressee has an account and is in good standing, and if so the address-blank is so stamped, the article is charged, and the duplicate blank is filed and may be used in the checking system of the store. On the other hand, if an item is charged to an account which does not exist on the books or which is not in good standing that fact is quickly ascertained and the delivery o f the packa e is stopped. Thus with my arrangement Iprovide all the necessary blanks and records for a system in common use in large IOO IIO

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retail stores all under one cover. I avoid the expense of printing address-blanks, Which must be Wasted, I avoid the annoyance incident to the use on packages of small addressblanks, I provide ready means for Writing the addresses in a large and legible manner, and at the same time I provide means for making such a record of addresses that the items ordered charged may be simply and rapidly separated from the cash items, and the Work of looking up such charge items is simplified, as is necessary for the prompt conduct of such a business and the prompt delivery of the goods. I also provide such a sales-check book in one volume Which shall give all of the carbon copies required and yet Will eliminate the danger of soiling delicate fabrics by the transfer of the carbon to the fingers of the sales person. On one side of section D opposite to the side carrying the address-blanks are flaps d, forming suitable pockets for receiving a card J, upon Which is entered a summary of all the sales entered on a given sales-pad.

While I have described my invention as embodied in a sales-check book, that being the use for Which, in my judgment, it is most adaptable, it is evident that the character of the records which are made or kept With a device made according to my invention does not affect the essential character of the invention, and so the term sales-check book,77 While it is used as a convenient designation of my invention, is not used in a limiting sense.

I claiml. A sales check book, comprising a section or support having a second section ilexibly connected to one edge thereof and having two other sections each flexibly connected With the first section at the opposite edge thereof, three of said sections being provided With blank-retaining means, and pads of blanks detachably secured to said sections.

2. A sales-check book, comprising a leaf or section provided With a marginal flange extending in a plane substantially perpendicular to the face of said leaf, a second leaf flexibly connected With one edge of said first leaf and provided With means for retaining a pad of blanks, and tWo other sections or leaves flexibly connected with another edge of said `first-named leaf, said tWo other sections being provided respectively With means for retaining pads of blanks.

8. A sales-check book, comprising a support having a second support connected With one edge thereof, said second support being provided With means for removably retaining a pad of blanks, tWo other supports, each connected with the opposite edge of said firstnamed support and provided, respectively, with means for removably retaining pads of blanks.

4. A sales-check book, comprising a leaf or support having another leaf or support connected With one margin thereof and having two other leaves or supports connected With another margin thereof, said tWo last-named leaves being connected With each other at their respective edges, Which are adjacent to one edge of said first-named leaf, and each having means for removably holding a pad of blanks.

5. A sales-check book, comprising a section provided With a marginal flange extending in a plane substantially.perpendicular to the faceof said section, a second section iiexibly connected With one edge of said first section and also provided With a marginal flange and With means for receiving and holding a pad of blanks, tWo other sections flexibly connected With another edge of said firstnamed section, both of said last-named sections being provided With means for retaining pads of blanks and With marginal flanges extending in a plane substantially perpendicular to the faces of said sections.

6. A sales-check book, comprising a series of sections, provided With marginal flanges extending in a plane substantially perpendicular to the faces of said sections, one of said sections being provided With means for retaining a pad of blanks, a pad of blanks detachably secured thereto, said pad comprising a series of sheets in triplicate and having secured thereto a carbon-sheet, tWo additional sections secured to the first-named sections and provided With means for retaining pads of blanks, pads of blanks in triplicate, of different colors, attached to said sections, and sheets of carbon-paper detachably secured to both of said sections.

7. A sales-check book, comprising a support or section provided at one edge With a flange extending perpendicularly to the face thereof, a second section fiexibly secured to said first section at another edge thereof and provided With means for retaining a pad of blanks With its bound edge in a position adjacent to said flange when said sections are folded together.

8. A sales-check book, comprising a section or support having a second section flexibly connected to one edge thereof and having tWo other sections each flexibly connected With the first section at another edge thereof one of said sections having means for removably holding a pad of blanks.

9. In a sales-check book or the like, the combination of a pair of covers hingingly secured together at adjacent edges, a pad of blanks removably secured to the inner side of one of the covers, a leaf hinged to the free edge of the other cover, a pad of blanks removably secured to said leaf, a leaf hinged to IOO IOS

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said covers along a-line between their adja- 10. In a sales-cheek book or the like, the between said Covers along a line between combination of a pair of covers hingingly setheir adjacent edges and having means for cured together at adjaoentedges7 one of said removably holding a pad of blanks.

covers having means for removably holding ARCHIBALD L. MCLEISH. 5 pad of blanks7 a leaf hinged to the other l/Vitnesses:

cover, said leaf having means for removably O. R. BARNETT,

holding a pad of blanks,v and a leaf secured M. E. SHIELDs. 

